Global stocks cautious as traders eye second day of US-China trade talks in London
Wall Street stocks were little changed after the bell on Tuesday while the FTSE 100 ( ^FTSE ) headed higher as US-China trade negotiations resumed at Lancaster House in London after more than six hours of talks on Monday.
There were some positive noises heading into the meeting, with US National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett telling CNBC he expected, “after the handshake”, that “any export controls from the US will be eased and the rare earths will be released in volume”
US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said they had a “good meeting” and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick called the discussions “fruitful”.
Investors are hopeful of a breakthrough that could continue to ease tensions between the two economic superpowers.
While a deal on access to China's rare earth minerals is America's priority, negotiators are navigating contentious issues that have fuelled a rift between the two.
Read more: Trending tickers: Apple, Tesla, TSMC, Aberdeen
Jim Reid of Deutsche Bank said: "While we await any concrete news, it’s worth remembering that markets have been used to a lot of back-and-forth in recent weeks. After all, US tariffs on China went all the way up to 145%, before they were then slashed back to 30%.
"There’ve been several twists and turns already, and markets are getting fairly used to this uncertainty by now. Note that US/India trade talks are also quietly expected to end today so maybe we'll see some headlines there soon too."
Stocks: Create your watchlist and portfolio
Follow along for live updates throughout the day:
LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER 21 updatesApple and Android .